


Passed The Time

by inawasteland



Series: 25 Days of Rooster Teeth [7]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-08
Updated: 2014-12-08
Packaged: 2018-02-28 14:44:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2736437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inawasteland/pseuds/inawasteland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tucker suspects his house may be just a tad haunted.  Featuring Church the friendly neighborhood ghost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Passed The Time

**Author's Note:**

> Church is already dead in this, but there is a mention of how he died, so I'm providing the warning just in case.

The house was a damn good price, and that should have been the first sign that something was wrong. But it was obvious there was something wrong when things started moving for no reason.

A chair would suddenly have moved across the room when he was out, or a picture frame would have fallen off the wall. Tucker wasn’t the most superstitious of people, but even he knew this shit wasn’t supposed to happen.  
 But nothing terribly malevolent happened, and nothing ever happened while Tucker was home. Which sucked, because he wanted to make sure he wasn’t just imagining things. Not that seeing it with his own eyes would be enough proof.

There were only so many ways he could insist to his friends that his house was haunted.

“Come on, guys, just stay over one night, you’ll see for yourself!” But nobody took the bait. No, Tucker was forced to deal with this little problem on his own.

It wasn’t for an entire month that he even saw the apparition that was haunting his ass. He wasn’t too up to date on the paranormal, but he was sure that you weren’t actually supposed to see ghosts, not like this at least. It was...weird.

“You would think after five hundred times of hanging the picture back on the wall that you would’ve taken the hint and not put it back up,” the ghost mused.

“Dude, what the fuck? That’s a picture with me and my son, can’t you just let it stay up?” Tucker couldn’t believe he was arguing with a ghost. What the fuck _indeed_.

“You have a son?” the ghost softened instantly and floated closer to him. “Where is he? I haven’t seen him at all since you’ve moved in.”

“He stays with his mom back in New York. She has custody.” The misery in Tucker’s voice is enough to make the ghost frown.

“I’m sorry...I had no idea. I’ll stop. At least with that picture.” What was this, a ghost with a conscience? Huh, Tucker thought he had seen everything.

“Why were you being such an asshole anyway?” Tucker asked, narrowing his eyes at the ghost.

“It gets lonely here,” was the response he got. “I like to make my presence known, but I only know a few tricks. It...took a while to actually get any sort of incorporeal form,” he admitted with a shrug.

That made sense, although Tucker was not going to mention the amount of times he had seen Ghost to know how. He tilted his head to the side and studied the ghost’s form closely. With his dark hair and dark circles under his eyes, the ghost looked familiar, sort of. Like someone he had seen in a dream once.

“I’m Church. Leonard, actually, but nobody calls me that. I would offer you my hand but you can’t exactly touch me.” Tucker recognized the sadness in Church’s voice. Dude sounded like he wanted to be able to touch someone, like he hasn’t been able to touch in a long time.

And Tucker, well, it was safe to say that ever since his girlfriend and he broke up and she took custody of their kid, there wasn’t much touching going on in Tucker’s life. So he could pretty much relate very fucking much. He just didn’t expect that a ghost could long to be touched like that, didn’t understand how a being without a body could recognize that need. Maybe it was much of a psychological thing? What the hell did Tucker know?

“You could try, you know. If you could move objects, who’s to say you can’t register touch?” Tucker offered, holding up a fist for Church. “Here, try to fist bump.”

The first few tries were unsuccessful, and kind of entertaining when Tucker watched Church’s ghostly fist pass right through his own. But then, the final attempt, he could actually _feel_ Church’s knuckles against his. It didn’t feel like the normal collision of fists that one would feel with a live human, but more of an odd sensation, like an icy cold breeze kissing his hand.

It...actually felt kind of nice.

“Whoa! You did it! Fuck...I didn’t know that was possible!” And Tucker was so excited for Church that he wasn’t prepared for the full body hug that Church was assailing him with. If a fist collision was like a cold kiss, this was on a whole new level. At first, it felt like Tucker was caught in a blizzard, but once he realized what was happening, he relaxed and the feeling changed into more of an electrical charge. Not the sort of warm, tingling one might expect from a human’s embrace, but it was strangely kind of nice. Different, but definitely nice.

“Whoa. That was. Uh. Interesting,” Tucker stammered when Church pulled away. He inspected his arms, as if he were expecting them to be scarred or frostbitten or some shit. Maybe he watched too many horror movies. He definitely watched too many horror movies.

“I could feel you,” Church whispered, his eyes wide and happy, which Tucker had to admit he much preferred to the earlier appearance when Tucker first laid eyes on this spirit. “It wasn’t like when I used to embrace my girlfriend, but I could still feel you. I’ve been dead for years and...and this is the first time I’ve felt someone.”

That thought caused Tucker to smile and he watched as Church’s excitement grew. From then on, Church never disappeared, unless Tucker asked him to. It was usually out of need for privacy, and never out of frustration, but there were moments.

There were also moments when Tucker would fall asleep alone and wake up with Church hovering next to him. Tucker knew he never needed sleep, but it was oddly comforting knowing that someone was there, watching over him.

There were moments when Tucker felt cold kisses against his cheek, and those were the moments when even with Church’s presence the loneliness just ate at him too much. Those moments when he missed Junior too goddamn much and had his phone in his hand, ready to call. Those cold kisses were enough to talk him down, remind him that demanding out of anger would not reconcile things with his girlfriend, would not mean being awarded custody of his kid.

“How did you die?” Tucker asked suddenly, curiosity getting the better of him. It had been months since he first appeared now, and he never did find that out. It never seemed important.

“It was in the middle of a blackout years ago. Our alarm system was down and some assholes were going around burglarizing. I had the dumb idea to try and stop them. Got myself killed, my girlfriend survived. You know she lived in this house until she died, too? But she passed on naturally, so we never were reunited.” Church sounded just as heartbroken as he looked. “I don’t know how to move on. I’ve wanted vengeance for years, but I can’t get it. So I’m stuck.”

“Maybe you need to find another way to move on. Vengeance won’t matter, those burglars are long dead by now. Don’t you want to see her again?” Tucker asked. And, okay, Church moving one would mean Tucker would be alone again, but he couldn’t ask this spirit to stick around just for Tucker.

“See Tex again? I don’t know...I watched her move on from my death, when she died she was married, with kids. I watched her kids have kids of their own until they all moved god knows where and then you came here. And suddenly I’m not alone anymore.” 

Tucker had to admit that he was laying in bed during this talk, and that he had shut his eyes when Church started talking about Tex. So when Tucker’s appearance came up, he wasn’t expecting his lips to suddenly go cold with that odd electrical current. He knew those were Church’s lips, just like he knew that Church was stroking his cheek and this was making Tucker’s head spin because this sensation was just so bizarre and yet incredible at the same time.

When Church broke away from the ghastly kiss, Tucker opened his eyes slowly. Church looked down at him sadly and let out what he supposed would have been a sigh, had he been alive and had air to expel from lungs that were still in perfectly working condition.

“Church...” Tucker knew this was going to happen sooner or later. He knew, because Tucker had felt it in his heart that he was becoming too attached to Church himself. That he was starting to regard this spirit with the same amount of passion and longing as he once did his girlfriend. “I’m going to grow old and I’m going to die just like everyone else, but you...you could end up stuck here after I pass. This...we can’t keep pretending this could work.”

These were words Tucker never wanted to say, but they were always in the back of his mind ever since Church had managed to touch him. It broke his heart to say it, but they were words that needed to be said.

And Church knew they were necessary. It still didn’t make it hurt any less.

“Think about it this way. If you can find it in your heart to forgive yourself for what happened that night, if you can find a way to move on. You just save yourself a spot for me, yeah? Save a spot for me and Junior.”

All these years and Church knew what it was he had to do in order to move on. It was just, he had been so alone for so long, the thought of being surrounded by other souls and having nobody had frightened him so long he didn’t want to leave. And then here was Tucker, and he knew. He _knew_ right away what Church needed to do. And Tucker clearly didn’t want Church to go, but he knew that if Church stayed, it would only be more painful to watch Tucker grow old, just like it would be painful for Tucker to see that Church was staying just the same.

“I’ll see you at those pearly white gates, yeah?” Tucker continued, leaning in to press his lips against what would have been Church’s cheek. He was met with that same cold breeze that he had become accustomed to all these months.

“Live a long and healthy life, Tucker. I can’t wait to see you again, you and the kid.” Church closed his eyes and...were those tears? It was clearly just a visual effect, a spirit couldn’t actually cry, but it didn’t make it any less sad to watch. “I’m coming, Tex. Hope you saved a spot for me.”

And what followed next was even more spectacular than Church being able to fist bump him. Church glowed a brilliant white, or was that a hole that opened up behind him? Whatever it was, it engulfed Church, and fuck, Tucker was definitely not crying. His only friend was about to disappear on him into the spirit world, up to heaven or whatever shit it was that waited for him in the afterlife.

It wasn’t until the bright white light disappeared that Tucker picked up his phone and dialed. And okay, he didn’t get full custody of Junior, but he did move back home just so he could get weekends with the kid. It wasn’t much, but it was definitely enough for now.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow I gave myself a sad with this, I'm sorry you guys!


End file.
